Casual lighting, that is lighting provided for usually temporary purposes, or lighting provided as an afterthought in particular locations, is commonly required or desirable in a variety of applications. Such lighting, for example, is oftentimes used at cookouts, for pool or patio parties, as well as at campsites, and is sometimes attached to the outside of stationary recreational vehicles. Beyond such temporary uses, however, casual lighting is also often resorted to for illumination in more permanent settings, for instance, in basements, game rooms, at job sites, and the like.
Such lighting is of considerable convenience in such situations since it is portable and can be rapidly installed without any need for more permanent fixtures or wiring. It is also easily removed when no longer required. Casual lighting lends itself to installation in areas and in positions in which the provision of more permanent lighting would be impractical, undesirably expensive, or unfeasible.
While casual lighting is a considerable convenience in many situations, it is not without attendant problems resulting from its temporary nature. For example, it is typically free-standing, that is, it is not "hard-wired" to fixtures anchored to ceilings or walls, or equivalent permanent structures, but rather is loosely attached or temporarily suspended from supports and it normally involves exposed wiring. While such disposition facilitates deployment of the lights, it also makes them more vulnerable to accidents in which severe strains can be imposed on the points at which the wiring is connected to the lights. In addition, in instances where the lights are suspended only by their own wiring, the weight of the lights themselves results in such strains. When subjected to stresses and strains of the type described, wiring used in the lights' electrical connections can become disconnected or otherwise damaged, sometimes resulting in an inconvenient failure of the lights, or in more serious cases, to exposure of individuals coming in contact therewith to electrical shock.
These possibilities have led to design modifications in such lights for the purpose of the type described typically comprise structures, or "hubs", into which electrical lamps are screwed, and which are connected to wiring extending into one or both sides thereof. Commonly, globes are positioned about the lamps, being held by the hubs, both to better diffuse the light emitted therefrom, as well as to provide a more decorative appearance to the fixtures. In the past, the strengthening referred to has involved the fashioning of the top of the hubs in the shape of a rigid "T", the electrical wiring being inserted in the horizontal arms thereof, which hold and protect it. The expedient described is not altogether effective in providing protection to the connections, however, and it unfortunately detracts from the aesthetic qualities of the lights. In this regard, lights of the type described are not simply functional, but in many instances, are intended to be decorative as well. However, when hubs shaped as described are used, they tend to impart an unattractive geometric, rather stiff appearance to the lights, as well as to interfere with their disposition in graceful festoons.